The Archaeology of Micronesia (review)

This book is billed as "the first book-length archaeological study of Micronesia," and indeed it is. It looks at settlement origins, individual island-group histories prior to European contact, the development of exchange systems and social stratification, the continuedcontactbetweenthe islands, and more. Interestingly, it is written by an archaeologist who is relatively junior (in years of work). Paul Rainbird's fieldwork dates to the early 1990s, with most of it in Chuuk. He received his PhD in 1995 from the University of Sydney and his theoretical perspective is that of the British school of post-processual archaeology, in contrast to the processual perspective of most (American-trained) archaeologists specializing in Micronesia.

I was pleasantly surprised with most of Rainbird's book. It references extensive manuscript material on each island group that many people are not aware of. The book is also very up-to-date in its data presentation on origins, notably the new findings in Belau, and it covers information on island-group histories for Belau, Yap, the Marianas, the Marshalls, and Kiribati fairly well—although some researchers in the Marianas may disagree with his conclusion that latte (stone house-post) development was introduced from outside.

As an example of these strengths, Rainbird portrays—with excellent data support—the current, favored hypothesis of four major settlement entries into Micronesia, all by Austronesian speakers. Belau and the Marianas were settled from the west by Western Malayo-Polynesian speakers between BC 2500-1500, probably from the Philippines and clearly in unrelated settlements. Not long after, Oceanic speakers (of Lapita fame) entered Micronesia, with Yap perhaps settled from the Admiralty Islands between BC 1300-200. The fourth group, also Oceanic speaking, entered into the eastern islands—Kiribati, Marshalls, Kosrae, and Pohnpei—at least by BC 500-AD 1, and later spread west to Chuuk, to the small Carolinean atolls and raised coral islands, and to the islands south of Belau. This language group is the Nuclear Micronesian family of Oceanic. Rainbird claims that this multipronged settlement is a new hypothesis, replacing a model, existing in theWest, of stepping-stone settlement from Belau to Yap to the Marianas. Actually, the multisource settlement hypothesis of Micronesia has dominated since the 1970s, beginning with the work of historical linguists such as Byron Bender. Nonetheless, the dates for this multipronged settlement and supportive information have been changing. Rainbird presents the current evidence.

Also, Rainbird rightly emphasizes that the individual islands did not remain in isolation after settlement; contact continued throughout this area. He notes "seaways. . . have for millennia been busy with the movement of people" (52), listing many examples of contact. Clearly, "seaways" with busy traffic were not a pattern for all of Micronesia. While some areas had heavy traffic, there was less frequent traffic (annual voyages—the Mortlocks' voyages into Chuuk), and some islands received very little traffic (rare canoes arriving at Kosrae). The result is a complex picture of contact, one that varied over time.

One weakness in this book, in my view, is its treatment of island-group histories in eastern Micronesia, notably in Pohnpei and Kosrae. Several multiyear research programs took place in these islands from the late 1970s,to the early 1980s, focusing in part on the development of hierarchical or stratified societies. These include William Ayres's program on Pohnpei (with students such as Alan Haun, Rufino Mauricio, and Suzanne Falgout); J Stephen Athens's work at Nan Madol; Charles Streck's and Joyce Bath's dissertation projects on Pohnpei; and the program on Kosrae that I directed (with colleagues Teddy John, Kanalei Shun, Bath, and later Streck and Athens, and with Takeshi Ueki's dissertation work loosely involved). These are extensive bodies of research. Rainbird summarizes this work, but he also critiques it and proposes post-processual interpretations. I came away feeling that the critique detracted from the book.

Part of Rainbird's critique is his view that...